Free Republic

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the lead Republican negotiator of a bipartisan gun safety framework, said Wednesday that some issues still need to be ironed out and warned the package may have to be slimmed down in order to get a bill passed. Cornyn said he’s “starting to get a little concerned” about the impasse over “a couple of issues that need to be settled before we can reach an agreement.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — One month ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the District of Columbia is renaming the street in front of the Saudi embassy Jamal Khashoggi Way, trolling Riyadh for its role in the killing of the dissident Saudi activist and journalist in 2018. With members of the D.C. Council in attendance, a Jamal Khashoggi Way sign was unveiled directly in front of the embassy’s main entrance. “We intend to remind the people who are hiding behind these doors ... that we hold them responsible and we will hold them accountable for the murder of our...

Outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Wednesday to recommend that the agency authorize the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines for very young children, a move that could clear the way for regulators to authorize both pediatric vaccines on an emergency basis later this week. Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine would cover children 6 months through 4 years old, while Moderna two-dose vaccine would be for children 6 months through 5 years old. States have already ordered millions of doses. Depending on what regulators do, White House officials have said administration of doses could start in earnest on...

The sleek four-wheeled carts look familiar enough, but not even UPS knows precisely how to describe what could be the delivery giant’s latest way to get packages to your door. UPS unveiled Tuesday a battery-powered, four-wheeled cycle to more efficiently haul cargo in some of the world’s most congested streets and to reduce its carbon footprint. The company is trying to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The slimmed-down vehicles don the company’s gold-colored logo and accompanying stripe on a dark brown background. But the “eQuad” — as the company calls it — garnered amusement from passersby. Ian Lagowitz had never...

The Austrian advertising agency behind Burger King Austria's Pride Whopper campaign has apologized following backlash on social media. On Saturday, agency Jung von Matt Donau posted an apology to its LinkedIn page, acknowledging that the agency did not engage with Austria's queer community enough before launching the Pride Whopper — burgers that feature either two sesame-seed top buns or two bottom buns rather than one of each — as part of Burger King Austria's Pride Month campaign. "Time to be proud," read the ad. "We've heard your voices and listened carefully," Jung von Matt Donau wrote on LinkedIn. "The Pride...

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., will take legal action against the Democrat political action committee (PAC) that claimed, without evidence, that she was an "unlicensed paid escort," Fox News Digital has learned. Boebert's attorney sent a letter to the American Muckrakers PAC regarding the claims that she was an "unlicensed paid escort" who had "two abortions," pledging to bring "civil defamation" lawsuits against the PAC. "Partisan organizations putting out blatantly false and disgusting accusations won’t stop me from advancing freedom and conservative values," Boebert told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday statement. "This group's vile conduct demonstrates why people are fed...

Consumer spending came to a halt last month: Retail sales fell 0.3% from the prior month, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Why it matters: Weak car sales weighed on retail sales, as vehicles got more expensive, shortages persisted and borrowing costs rose. Stripping out autos, ­re­tail sales actually rose 0.5%. Details: Overall retail sales eased from April's downwardly revised 0.7% increase. In May, consumers ramped up spending on services, including at food and beverage stores (+1.2%). Consumers cut back on goods, like furniture (-0.9%) and electronics (-1.3%). The bottom line: The unexpected drop in retail sales, which aren't adjusted...

Russia said Tuesday it would establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from a chemical plant in Severodonetsk, as the two sides battled for control of the key city in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.Russian forces have stepped up efforts to cut off the Ukrainian troops still in the industrial hub, destroying all three bridges which connect it across a river to Lysychansk.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile once again appealed for heavy weapons from the West, criticising the "restrained behaviour" of some European leaders.Moscow has for weeks targeted the twin cities as the last areas in the Lugansk region of the...

Although I consider myself to be firmly in the Classical Dispensational camp (Scofield, Larkin, Chafer, Ironside, et. al.) I tend to linger in the fringe areas of most fields of study more than most. Not so much in the increasingly crowded Nephilim, UFO, transhumanist, et. al. corners of the fringe, but more in the realm of things forgotten or questions unanswered. Things that are overlooked because they seem irrelevant or dismissed simply as nuance. As I mentioned in my previous brief (The Mystery of the Kingdoms), it’s the little things that pique my interest. Speaking of things forgotten, way back...

[H/T Chunga85 ]The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most manipulated infectious disease events in history, characterized by official lies in an unending stream lead by government bureaucracies, medical associations, medical boards, the media, and international agencies.[3,6,57] We have witnessed a long list of unprecedented intrusions into medical practice, including attacks on medical experts, destruction of medical careers among doctors refusing to participate in killing their patients and a massive regimentation of health care, led by non-qualified individuals with enormous wealth, power and influence.For the first time in American history a president, governors, mayors, hospital administrators and federal bureaucrats are...

An Alabama teen has been accepted to more than 15 universities, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins, and has been awarded more than $2 million in scholarship offers. Rotimi Kukoyi, a high school senior and the first Black National Merit Scholar at his school, is from Hoover, Alabama. He told ABC News he was inspired to apply to a number of places after appearing on the "Jeopardy!" Teen Tournament as a freshman in 2018, and meeting high achieving students from across the country.

The Attorney General made the comments while speaking at a civil rights conferenec in Lansing, according to Craig Mauger of The Detroit News. Mauger tweeted, “‘Drag queens make everything better. Drag queens are fun,’ Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says at a civil rights conference in Lansing while speaking out against what she describes as efforts to divide people. ‘A drag queen for every school,’ she adds.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that he welcomes the support of the world's richest man after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he likes DeSantis's odds in the 2024 presidential election. "I'm focused on 2022, but with Elon Musk, what I would say is, you know I welcome support from African-Americans," DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday. "What can I say?" Musk, who is White but was born in South Africa, said on Twitter Wednesday morning that he is leaning toward DeSantis in the next presidential election, but his vote is still to be determined. The tech entrepreneur...

George Washington University’s sports teams will no longer be known as the Colonials. The school said in an announcement Wednesday the school’s board of trustees and a special committee determined the name Colonials "can no longer serve its purpose as a name that unifies."

Explanation: The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is the closest cluster of galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy. The Virgo Cluster is so close that it spans more than 5 degrees on the sky - about 10 times the angle made by a full Moon. With its heart lying about 70 million light years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the nearest cluster of galaxies, contains over 2,000 galaxies, and has a noticeable gravitational pull on the galaxies of the Local Group of Galaxies surrounding our Milky Way Galaxy. The cluster contains not only galaxies filled with stars but also gas so...

The search for a missing 3-year-old Massachusetts boy who vanished from his babysitter's backyard ended Wednesday afternoon with the grim discovery of the child's body in a pond, sources told ABC News Boston affiliate WCVB. The toddler's body was found in a pond at a farm near the babysitter's home in Lowell, about 30 miles northwest of Boston, WCVB reported, citing multiple sources.

The deep-sea creature surprised scientists.Resembling an alien shopping bag with guts made of glowing Cheetos, a bizarre creature took center stage in new footage captured by a remotely operated vehicle deep in the Pacific Ocean. Gliding through the sea at a depth of some 7,221 feet (2,201 meters), the ocean weirdo — actually an unknown species of sea cucumber — had its innards on display in the new clip, taken in March by an ROV exploring part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument southeast of Honolulu. The ROV was gliding over an unexplored seamount at the Kingman Reef...

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. Senate negotiators, racing to settle details of bipartisan gun legislation, on Wednesday struggled to resolve serious disagreements over federal funding of state "red flag" programs and the breadth of a plan for keeping guns out of the hands of those prone to domestic violence. Cornyn has raised concerns over a provision to fund state "red flag" laws allowing authorities to temporarily take guns away from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. Cornyn's home state of Texas does not have such a law and is seen as unlikely to enact one. He wants the federal funding...

Here's how America's biggest fast-food chains stack up with customers.Just how intense is inflation right now? We haven't seen price jumps like these in 40 years, according to numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some of the largest increases over the past 12 months include electricity (up 12%), utility gas service (up 30.2%), and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (up 14.2%), reports Forbes. When it comes to buying these necessities, customers don't have much choice. But what about discretionary spending on, say, fast food? How are some of the biggest burger chains faring amid these challenges? According...

It strikes me that relative newcomer around the Holy See Press sector, listed as CNA‘s “senior Rome correspondent” – which as I get older strikes me as amusing – Hannah Brockhaus should rethink her priorities. Francis had an audience with a bunch of editors of European Jesuit journals – imagine what that was like. In the Vatican News piece relating what was exchanged in their Q&A there are some 2400 words. The section Hannah chose to report on is 188 words of the whole. La Civilità Cattolica HERE. What was her game? Click-bait? The topic: Francis criticized, belittled, “restauratori”, “restorers...